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Prolific writer, director and producer Greg Berlanti spoke of his personal journey and lifelong love of television when receiving the 2024 Governors Award at the Emmy Awards.
“I wanted to be a part of television even before I knew how that was possible,” the 52-year-old showrunner, one of the youngest individual recipients of the award, said in his emotional speech. “So many Gen X kids in the 70s and 80s, the one color TV our family could afford was on around the clock in our house, and I watched and loved all of it.”
Berlanti used that childhood experience as inspiration for his company Berlanti Production’s logo.
“There wasn’t a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid, and it’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time,” Berlanti continued. “There was no Internet to connect with other queer kids, no LGBTQ plus advocacy groups in schools. Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if he also watched Dynasty, Dallas and could name all four of the Golden Girls.”
Berleni then recalled the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s that, along with fear, brought the first images of openly gay men on television that he saw “holding hands with other men, marching and fighting for their lives.”
“They gave me hope that I might one day have their courage to come out and share my truth with the world,” Berlanti said.
He spoke fondly of his mom who made business cards for him that said “Greg Berlanti, puppeteer” when he was young because he “wanted to be Jim Henson” at the time.
“Someone believed in me that I could tell stories for a living,” Berlani said of his mom. And while his puppeteer career was short-lived, consisting of a few puppet shows for kids in his hometown, a storyteller he did become.
Berlanti went on to thank his longtime studio home, Warner Bros. TV, its previous longtime leader, Peter Roth, who was one of Berlanti’s biggest champions throughout his career, giving the then young writer his first overall deal to create his first show, Everwood. He also aknowledged WBTV’s current boss, Channing Dungey, and her boss, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, as well as his “incomparable” producing partner Sarah Schechter, his sister, his dad and “my soulmate, my husband, Robbie Rogers,” who executive produces the Emmy-nominated Fellow Travelers.
“When I think about it, to have traveled that distance from that scared kid years ago to this stage with my husband in the audience and our two beautiful children, Caleb and Mia, watching at home, when I think about how much the world had to change to make the life I’m living now possible, even in hindsight, it’s unimaginable to me,” Berlanti said.
He then added, fighting back tears. “Sadly, the one person who did imagine this night first is not here to celebrate it with us. We lost my mom several years ago to cancer, but the belief she had in me still lingers on long after she’s gone.
“That’s how powerful belief is, and her belief travels through me and out to all of the kids out there who today may feel alone or other or scared to share their truth with the world. If my mom were here, she would want you to know that you are loved and you are worthy and you have a story to tell, and we need those stories now more than ever. She believes in you, and I do too, so hurry up to get here.”
You can watch Berlanti’s speech above.
A WGA, DGA, PGA and Emmy-nominated writer, director, and producer, Berlanti began his TV career as a staff writer on Dawson’s Creek, whose star Joshua Jackson presented the award alongside Berlanti’s collaborator and friend Matt Bomer, and became an executive producer and showrunner of the series after only one year on staff. That first gig launched a meteoric career rise for Berlanti who has produced or created/co-created more than 45 shows in the last two decades, including Arrow, Blindspot, The Flash, Supergirl, Everwood, You, Titans, Riverdale, All American, Found, The Flight Attendant and the upcoming Brilliant Minds, building DC universes on the CW and Max. His Berlanti Productions has had a record-breaking 15 shows on the air at one time.
Throughout his career, Berlanti has been a leader and voice for inclusion in the entertainment industry, both on screen and behind the camera. He helped introduce a gay character on a primetime TV show and the first same-sex kiss between two men with Dawson’s Creek. That was followed by the first gay superhero to headline a TV series (Freedom Fighters: The Ray), the first transgender recurring character on TV and first legal gay marriage on network TV (Dirty Sexy Money), the first transgender superhero on TV (Supergirl), the first lesbian superhero to headline a television show (Batwoman), and the first single gay lead in a U.S. medical drama (Brilliant Minds).
The Berlanti Family Foundation was founded in 2019 to support numerous charities and those in need, including F Cancer, ACLU, The Giving Spirit, GLAAD, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Girls Inc.. Additionally, Berlanti and his Foundation gave over $2 million to support those in the industry that were affected by production shutdowns from Covid and the industry strikes with donations to the MPTF, the Entertainment Community Fund, and a direct fund for his own productions.
